Construction World August 2015

PRECAST CONCRETE PRODUCTS

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constructed in northern Johannesburg. Other recent projects include Jabulani, a high density sectional title development in Soweto, and Fleurhof, an integrated housing project south west of Johannesburg. The MTN Data Centre, Phase II, which necessitated the addition of a second floor, is an example of how prestressed flooring can be used to add a storey to an existing building, saving time and money. The use of hollow-core slabs by several high-density housing developers has meant earlier completion times and substantial cost savings. As Rodney Gray, managing director of Balwin Properties says, “prestressed hollow-core slabs provide us with fantastic quality and high standards which far outweigh in-situ or beam-and-block flooring. In fact precast concrete is what makes high-density housing viable for us.” One example of prestressed slabs diversity is security walling. Several walls have been erected, one of the latest being a wall for the Scaw Metals Group. The wall was commissioned after other types of security walling proved fallible by being repeatedly breached. 1. Clearwater Park, Boksburg, where Echo Prestress hollow-core slabs were used to fast track the development. 2. An Echo prestressed slab is lowered into position at The William, a middle-income high-density residential development in northern Johannesburg. 3. Gabions add aesthetic appeal to this Echo security wall at Waterfall Estate in Midrand. 4. Some of the installed Echo prestressed slabs at the MTN data centre’s second-floor extension project in Centurion.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2015